Spring

The tulips are out and then the frost and snow came. Could it be spring?
Hard to believe that we are still shaking off the winter weather and I am quickly trying to over plan RJ's summer. I know, I know, this is all odd for me too. I really have no idea what I am doing w/ the whole parenting thing and I have fallen into some rather odd rhythms. Two years ago RJ wasn't signed up for anything and it was a bust of a summer, well, maybe because I was on bed rest and delivering a baby that was why, who knows really. Last year I overcompensated and scheduled the child to the week. It was also a bust. And by bust I mean, fits, tears, fighting and well, overall grumps. So I am trying a new strategy this year. I am signing him up for the few things he liked last year and planning some trips away from home w/ nothing to do but hang w/ the cousins and see where that gets us. I am hoping a better year to be had by all.
Now mind you we had no kitchen and mama e was in a serious state of doldrums (to put it mildly) so we are already ahead of the game. A fridge, a stove and food that is not from a Frito's bag, and a more happy mama.
What an odd world we live in though. I really am walking a thin line on this schedule issue. It is a "flash point" for some. There are the moms that don't schedule anything and then there are the moms that will pay an arm, a leg and their first born grandchild, in order to get the kids in one camp after the next. So different now, honestly I think the issue isn't how hard kids are to entertain or how dangerous it is to be unsupervised, I know that most of my hangups are mine, not my kids. So here is to jumping off into the deep end and hoping there is water. I am going to teach my child independence by giving him freedom. I'll follow Phillips lead and say, "you can't teach a child responsibility without risk." I will let him make his own time, I will let him walk around neighborhood and play with his friends. I will show him how to get to the store and let him walk if he wants, I will show him the way to the park and let him go on his own. Okay, when he is ready...he will tell me when he is ready right? I just need to be ready to listen.